ARTISTS | Rachel Coad

Rachel Coad’s figurative painting practice spans 20 years. Well know as a figurative painter, she was awarded the $50,000 Black Swan Prize for portraiture in 2016. Figuration offers a vehicle for Coad to delve into existentialism, and the engagement of viewer to subject is key to the success of her work. Her monumental-scaled work is characterised by a limited palette and subtle tonal shifts.

Rachel Coad has shown in both Australia and the UK. In addition to Black Swan Prize, she has been shortlisted for numerous awards including the Metro 5 Award on two occasions (2006, 2007) and the Albany Art Prize. At the end of 2013, Coad was shortlisted for the BankWest Painting Prize and was voted as the winner of the People’s Choice.

REVIEW: Juncture, 2015
THE human movement at play within Rachel Coad’s vastly scaled, astutely painted oils might be mistaken for that of contemporary dance or performance. The beautiful young woman who assumes the role of the painter’s model is captured in various…continue reading The Age review here

Artworks:

Restoration, 2017

Rachel Coad, Megan, oil on linen, 150x213cm

Rachel Coad, Megan II, oil on linen, 165x165cm

Rachel Coad, Mumtaz III, oil on linen, 170x220cm

Rachel Coad, Mark, oil on linen, 185x185cm

District, 2015

Rachel Coad, George, oil on linen, 185x154cm

Rachel Coad, Bind, oil on linen, 275x230cm

Rachel Coad, Grace, 2015, oil on linen, 230x140cm

Rachel Coad, Place, oil on linen, 187x175cm

Rachel Coad, Section, oil on linen, 202x160cm

Rachel Coad, Opening of the Water Fountain, 2015, oil on linen, 215x150cm

Exhibitions:

The relationship of the body to space will be the key focus of Rachel Coad's upcoming exhibition. Her new series of figurative oil on linen paintings mark a return to works that are more intimate in scale, while retaining the tonal elements for which she is known.

Restoration is an ambitious series of portraits which capture the expressions that occur in the moment before a response to an idea or a question is articulated. In a return to the themes which dominated Coad’s 2014 series, Juncture, the artist endeavours to describe another unguarded moment in human interaction. Her figures engage with a series of situations which are not apparent to the viewer in a bid to examine the role of the spectator. She says, “We all find ourselves in conversations where, in a moment, we are observing rather that participating. I seek to recreate the dynamics in the observed moment.”